After receiving what was described as a dignified trade request from Juwan Howard, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said he will try to accommodate the power forward, who was acquired in June as part of a three-team deal. Howard initially made the request to Wolves vice president Kevin McHale.

The Wolves are talking to three teams about potential trades in an attempt to deal players with longer-term contracts. But because of contract complexities, a deal could take until training camp in October.

The Wolves are seeking draft picks and/or younger players.

Howard, who agreed to a $7 million, two-year contract this summer hoping to play with Kevin Garnett, respectfully asked the Wolves to facilitate a trade after Garnett was dealt last month to Boston. Howard, who is near the end of his career, would like to play for a title contender.

With Mark Madsen sidelined after shoulder surgery, look for the Wolves to sign second-round draft pick Chris Richard to a guaranteed contract soon rather than wait and see how he performs in training camp. Richard’s chances of making the team improved significantly after Madsen’s injury on a Jet Ski.

Taylor was saddened by the death of former Timberwolf Eddie Griffin, who was killed when his car collided with a train in Houston last week. Taylor had met with Griffith, 25, at Taylor’s home in Mankato in an attempt to encourage him to make a comeback from alcohol and personal problems.

“This is so sad because that young man had so many gifts given to him but was haunted by the sickness of alcohol,” Taylor said Wednesday. “When I heard about (Griffin’s death), I thought, ‘Oh, gosh, he’s got a little daughter.’ She was one of the most meaningful parts of his life, and I encouraged him to live for her and work toward that.”

A perpetual rumor in college softball circles is that University of St. Thomas coach John Tschida is headed to the Gophers. It isn’t true; Tschida says he isn’t going anywhere.

But if he wanted a new challenge, it’s a good bet Tschida could just about have his choice of jobs.

Tschida, 39, is the John Gagliardi of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference softball. He has coached St. Mary’s in Winona to a national softball title and twice done the same with St. Thomas. His 13-year career won-lost coaching record is 491-87, and in the MIAC, it’s 270-23.

This week, Tschida was asked if he would be interested in coaching the Chinese team in next year’s Olympics in Beijing. The offer was lucrative, and if Tschida were interested, the deal could have paid considerably more, excluding bonuses, than his salary at St. Thomas. He said no thanks.

“I’m not a money person,” he said.

Then he laughed.

“But for a million dollars, I probably would have,” he said.

Besides, Tschida has never been to China. Nor Australia. But immediately after finishing the call from China, the phone rang again. It was a call from an Australian official wanting him to help conduct international softball clinics in Sydney. Because it’s for only a week, he said yes. He leaves Monday.

In January, Tschida will conduct clinics in Italy. Last year, he was offered a job coaching the Canadian softball team for the Olympics in Beijing. He said no thanks.

“China would have been a neat experience, and if all I was worried about was moving on from St. Thomas, I would have taken it,” Tschida said. “But I want to coach at St. Thomas.”

Former Gophers men’s hockey coach Doug Woog, who is honorary chairman for the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk on Sept 29 in Bloomington, will appear at the State Fair’s Education Building at noon today to promote the fundraiser and give away Gophers hockey, basketball and volleyball tickets.

Keith Carney, Josh Harding, Doug Risebrough, Brad Bombardir and Nick Schultz of the Wild will make State Fair appearances, as will Sean Pollock and Ryan Ward of the Swarm, all on the second floor of the grandstand.

Charley Walters’ column appears Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at cwalters@pioneerpress.com.

DON’T PRINT THAT

Among memories shared during last weekend’s 1987 Twins World Series championship reunion was the time Tom Brunansky and Kirby Puckett were snowmobiling on Lake Minnetonka just before spring training and Puckett lost control of his machine and landed hard in a snowbank, worried that he hurt his shoulder.

Brunansky pleaded with Puckett not to tell anyone that he had been with him when it happened. The shoulder, however, turned out to be fine.

The reason Vikings coach Brad Childress has switched from a baseball-type cap to a hat with a floppy brim is to protect him from potential skin cancer spots caused by exposure to the sun.

Twins general manager Terry Ryan is in New Britain, Conn., scouting pitcher Glen Perkins, who is recovering from a side shoulder muscle strain.

OVERHEARD

Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi, on new football coach Tim Brewster: “His energy and optimism have caught on with our fans. God bless him. And if we win every football game, God really bless him.”

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Sports

It was clear early on that the Gophers women’s basketball team was in for a physical game against Army. Minnesota didn’t seem to mind all the hands, elbows and hips directed its way — the Gophers play in the Big Ten, after all — and earned a 70-52 victory over the Black Knights on Thursday night at Williams Arena. “I...

Top-seeded Concordia-St. Paul will make its ninth appearance in the NCAA Division II national semifinals after defeating No. 8 American International in three sets Thursday night at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Golden Bears (33-2), who won 25-6, 25-16, 25-13, will face No. 5 Lewis at 7:30 p.m. Friday. No. 6 Alaska-Anchorage and No. 2 Palm Beach...

TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors pushed aside the Minnesota Timberwolves — again. With Toronto down 95-94 with 8:46 left, DeRozan and Lowry keyed a 17-4 Raptors run that took the game away from the youthful Timberwolves. Toronto eventually pulled out a 124-110 victory, handing Minnesota its 13th straight loss at Air Canada Centre. “We just...

Members of the Missouri Tigers volleyball team are ready to have about 5,500 people rooting against them Friday night at 7:15 p.m. when they take on Minnesota’s Golden Gophers in the first round of the NCAA volleyball Minneapolis regional. “We’ve competed against a Big Ten team (Purdue, whom 27-5 Missouri defeated to advance to the regional semifinal) and that wasn’t a...

Unafraid of introducing his players to advanced statistics, Gophers coach Richard Pitino routinely tells his squad where they stand among college basketball’s top teams in stats not included in a box score. He prints out charts that combine traditional and advanced statistics, discusses them with players at practice and has an assistant track them during games to help with adjustments....

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was optimistic punt returner Marcus Sherels will be able to play Sunday at Jacksonville, which would be a boost to a special-teams unit that struggled in several phases in last week’s loss to Dallas. Sherels has missed three of the past four games because of injury, including the previous two. Adam Thielen and Cordarrelle Patterson assumed...